Travis B. Williams

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• Ph.D.
• Professor at Tusculum College

The amanuensis hypothesis has long been a popular method of defending traditional authorship claims of disputed New Testament epistles. Scholars who espouse this view maintain that in the Greco-Roman world secretaries were afforded the freedom to (extensively) shape the letters they transcribed. As a result, proponents contend that authenticity jud...

For centuries, the authorship claims of certain New Testament epistles have been defended by postulating the use of a secretary. According to the amanuensis hypothesis, secretaries in the Greco-Roman world were afforded varying degrees of compositional freedom during the letter-writing process. Proponents of this view maintain that such a considera...

Throughout much of church history, the authorship of the Catholic Epistles has been attributed to the brothers of Jesus and some of his closest disciples. However, the genuineness of these authorial ascriptions has been highly debated over the past few centuries. After such extended dialogue, much of the discussion has grown stale. When the issue i...

Scholars have long debated whether the letters of James, 1–2 Peter, and Jude are authentic based on the fact that the ascribed authors were ancient craftsmen. The problem is that few have offered any actual evidence that could be used to establish whether most fishermen and carpenters were or were not able to read and write. The aim of this paper i...

This is a bibliography prepared as part of my work (in collaboration with David G. Horrell) on the 1 Peter volume for the International Critical Commentary series. Updated 14 January 2023

This bibliography, which is a work-in-progress, is being prepared as part of my study of the letters of Jude and 2 Peter. If there are corrections that need to be made-and I'm sure that there are quite a few-or if there are other works that should be added to this list, please let me know.

Taking into account both the most recent scholarship as well as the various exegetical dimensions necessary for its interpretation – linguistic and textual no less than archaeological, historical, literary, and theological – this work seeks to be a highly technical but eminently readable commentary on 1 Peter.

Media studies is an emerging discipline that is quickly making an impact within the wider field of biblical scholarship. This volume is designed to evaluate the status quaestionis of the Dead Sea Scrolls as products of an ancient media culture, with leading scholars in the Dead Sea Scrolls and related disciplines reviewing how scholarship has addre...

Responding to objections raised against the parousia, the author of 2 Peter seeks to defend the validity of Jesus’ return by pointing to the experience of the apostles at the Transfiguration (1.16-18) and to prophetic scripture (1.19-21). But how these two proofs relate to one another has been a matter of dispute since the earliest days of critical...

In 1 Pet 4:11a, those who exercise χαρίσματα involving speech acts are instructed to carry out their tasks ὡσ λόγια θεοῦ. Two interpretations of this phrase have gained prominence within Petrine scholarship. Some claim that Scripture is being referenced to establish a standard for regulating the use of communicative gifts in the church. Others cont...

Over the last few decades, scholarly approaches toward the Teacher of Righteousness have undergone a dramatic shift. Increasing skepticism over the ancient source materials has led many to become pessimistic about the possibility that traditional historical methods might be able to extract sufficient information to reconstruct the life of the histo...

The similarities between 1 Peter and certain New Testament epistles (e.g., Romans, Ephesians) have long been recognized. According to the modern consensus, these affinities developed out of shared oral traditions which circulated within early Christianity and not through any direct literary borrowing. What has been overlooked in this discussion, ho...

Scholars have long debated whether χάρις in 1 Pet 2,19-20 should be understood as the unmerited favor which is divinely bestowed upon those who please God, or whether it represents a human action that secures a favorable response from God. What interpreters have continued to overlook, however, are the ancient social dynamics which underlie this pas...

Auf der Grundlage der – in der neutestamentlichen Wissenschaft un-hin terfragten – Voraussetzung, dass der Autor des 1Petr eine ontologische Un-terscheidung zwischen Göttlichkeit und Menschlichkeit des Kaisers vornimmt, wird ἀνθρωπίνη κτίσις in 1Petr 2,13 häufig als subtile Kritik am römischen Kaiser und am Kaiserkult gelesen. Die angesprochene Deu...

Drawing on recent insights from postcolonial theory and social psychology, this study seeks to diagnose the social strategy of good works in 1 Peter by examining how the persistent admonition to “do good” is intended to be an appropriate response to social conflict. Challenging the modern consensus, which interprets the epistle’s good works languag...

This essay explores the perceived role of the Petrine author in the interpretation of prophetic Scripture, suggesting that the author of the epistle located himself among other Second Temple prophetic figures whose ministry was first and foremost text-based; that is, his prophetic role was that of an inspired exegete who mined the prophetic Scriptu...

In a world in which it was believed that the mind was a storehouse of visual images, the ancient rhetorical technique of ἔκφρασις was understood as a way of exploiting this mental visual library through evoking images connected to a web of cultural associations. Vivid, visual depiction could therefore play an important role in powerfully persuading...

For the most part, it is assumed that in the Koine period the fourth-class condition indicated a future contingency with a possible or, in many cases, only a remote chance of fulfillment (e.g., “if this could happen”). If this meaning is applied to the condition in 1 Pet 3,14, it seems to imply not the reality of suffering, but merely the remote po...

It is not uncommon for scholars to associate the “good works” mentioned in 1 Peter with beneficent acts of municipal elites who contributed to the welfare of their civic communities. According to some, the author of the epistle hoped to overcome many of the negative stereotypes held by popular society through the practice of civic benefaction (or e...

This work serves as a comprehensive and detailed socio-historical investigation into the nature of suffering in 1 Peter. While interpreters commonly portray the conflict situation addressed by the epistle as "unofficial" persecution consisting of discrimination and verbal abuse, the study demonstrates the inadequacy of this modern consensus by situ...

Throughout the history of research, the topic of persecution has been one of the more heavily debated issues within the study of 1 Peter. At the moment, however, a general agreement has been reached concerning the nature of the readers’ problems. According to the modern consensus, the persecutions were localized and sporadic hostility consisting of...

The imperatival participle is one of the hallmarks of the epistle of 1 Peter. In the past, Petrine interpreters have concerned themselves with questions of function’s validity and identification, but few have devoted serious attention to the question of semantics. Of those who have, a common agreement seems to be shared, viz., that the imperatival...

For decades biblical scholarship has been convinced of the inauthenticity of the longer ending of Mark’s Gospel. Given the overwhelming consensus on the matter, it might seem like folly to even raise the issue afresh. Yet it is our contention that the foundation upon which this position has been built is somewhat faulty. One of the major reasons wh...

From beginning to end, the epistle of 1 Peter is concerned with responding to the conflict in which the Anatolian readers have presently become involved. Nevertheless, throughout the history of Petrine scholarship the nature of this problem has generated significant disagreement. Within the most recent discussion, however, a general consensus has b...